Information about company drivers
Company drivers
The information below provides insight into how working as a corporate driver can meet your intended lifestyle, work into your long-term career plans, and provide the work environment you seek.
What is the company chauffeur?
Corporate drivers are employed by specific companies that maintain their own fleet of trucks. Business drivers can be divided into 2 categories: (1) drivers who work for trucking carriers that exist for the sole purpose of transporting other people’s goods or (2) drivers who work for companies who transport their own cargo to support the product of their company or service. Corporate chauffeurs are in high demand, particularly among large carriers.
What are some personal characteristics useful for company drivers?
Aside from the personal characteristics needed to be a good truck driver, a corporate driver can represent a company with thousands of workers in the United States and internationally. Therefore, it is beneficial for a corporate driver to maintain a happy and helpful demeanor to both the general public and customers. Likewise, trustworthiness, honesty, integrity, and self-motivation are needed since you won’t have anyone watching over your shoulder or directing your every move. No one will tell you when to get out of bed in the morning or when to take a break or stop driving for the day (except the NMCSA, of course!).
For more information about company drivers, including what a company driver is, paths to securing a driving job, financial investment requirements, personal characteristics, average salaries and compensation structures of company drivers, visit Truck Driver Job Resources.
Information on flatbed transport
Different types of materials require different types of trailers, and each type of trailer offers drivers its own challenges. Therefore, it’s important to understand what’s required to not only drive your truck and cargo, but also the trailer you’re towing.
What is Flatbed Transport Equipment?
Flatbed trailers are essentially exactly what the name suggests: a base made of steel or similar material mounted on a frame with axles and wheels. Flatbeds often carry oversized loads that can’t fit in an enclosed trailer.
What are the driver requirements for transporting flatbed equipment?
Aside from the appropriate CDL, low-deck equipment drivers must be proficient in securing cargo with tarps, come-a-longs, chains, straps, or other types of devices. Before leaving the loading site, drivers must ensure that the cargo is held securely on the trailer and is unable to move in any direction during events including collisions, jackknives or, to the extent possible, rollovers. Cargo securing on flatbed trailers is not a one-time check-and-go responsibility and should be double-checked and adjusted as needed.
Another important point of flatbed transport concerns oversized loads. If the load is wider or taller than a trailer would otherwise carry, the trailer must include large notations stating “oversized load.” In some cases, oversized loads will be accompanied by pilot vehicles alerting truckers of potentially dangerous barriers ahead and often pulling into the left lane to prevent other vehicles from passing until they are safe.
What approvals are required for flatbed transport?
Flatbed transport approvals depend on the type of cargo attached to the trailer. In cases where dangerous materials are transported, an approval (H) or (X) is required. Also, if a tank of both hazardous and non-hazardous liquid is placed on a flatbed, the trailer becomes a tanker for transport purposes. In such cases, it is best to have approvals for (N) tankers, (H) hazardous materials, and/or (X) hazardous materials/tanker combinations.
For more information on flatbed haulage, including the type of companies they hire, job requirements, pay structures, what approvals are needed, visit Truck Driving Job Resources.
About heavy haulage equipment
Different types of materials require different types of trailers, and each type of trailer offers drivers its own challenges. Therefore, it’s important to understand what’s required to not only drive your truck and cargo, but also the trailer you’re towing.
What is heavy haulage equipment?
Heavy haul trailers are specifically designed to haul items such as large construction machinery and power-generating windmill blades. Several types of specialized trailer equipment are used to haul these heavy loads, or “super loads,” as they are often called.
What characteristics must a haulier have to tow heavy vehicles?
The name “heavy haulage” implies strength, and strength and durability are important features for heavy haulage drivers. Even with power steering and automatic transmissions, the weight of a typical heavy haulage load makes turning more difficult than a typical load such as a dry van.
Truck drivers must, like all drivers, be alert to potential safety issues. A HGV driver needs to be aware of barriers in a wider route than a normal driver. Long trailers require attention to longer distances in side barriers and wider areas, especially when rounding corners.
A very important characteristic of a heavy transport pilot is to be a team player. Heavy haulage drivers may be the only person aboard the truck, but a full team of route planners, employees loading and securing cargo, pilot vehicle drivers, and sometimes state or public road authorities, including law enforcement agencies, order, they must all work together to ensure a safely delivered cargo.
What approvals are required for heavy transport?
Approvals depend on the type of cargo being transported and may include (H) hazardous materials, (N) tank, or (X) combination of hazardous materials and tank.
Additionally, a company planning a heavy-haul route must coordinate with state or local authorities, often obtaining a permit based on engineering surveys of the load and route, bridge analysis to determine weight limits and axle configurations, scheduling to minimize traffic disruption.
For more information on heavy haulage equipment, including the type of companies they hire, job requirements, compensation structures, what approvals are required, visit Truck Driving Job Resources.
Information about Over the Road (OTR) routes.
The type of truck driving route varies within the industry and depends on several factors, including interstate transportation requirements, route planning, type of cargo being transported, frequency, hazardous materials restrictions, driver experience, etc.
Over the Road (OTR) routes. they’re probably what most people with minimal knowledge of the trucking industry imagine drivers work for. OTR routes can be regional with occasional out-of-region assignments, or they can be between countries to make one or more deliveries en route. OTR drivers are typically paid by the mile and are on the road most of the year with limited home hours.
